A never-lived-in oceanfront mansion that quietly sold for $110 million last year is to be torn down and replaced with a new property.
The mansion, built in 2016 at 1071 N. Ocean Blvd, Palm Beach, is owned by a company linked to cosmetics billionaire William P. Lauder.
It was blasted by locals around the time of its construction for being too large – although the next property on the plot may be even bigger.
Lauder, 62, who is said to be worth $3.2 billion, is executive chairman of The Estée Lauder Company.
He owns an empty lot next door and is believed to want to combine both parcels of land before building his dream home, just six miles from former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago.
Details of the sale and its impending demolition were uncovered by the Palm Beach Daily News.
The home was originally purchased for $40.42 million by Philadelphia businessman Vahan Gureghian and his wife, Danielle, an attorney, but they never moved in.
This week, demolition workers moved onto the site site with the lush front lawn ripped up this past Monday while trees and shrubs were removed on Tuesday.
The building itself will not be allowed to be razed to the ground until a final demolition permit is issued by the town of Palm Beach.
Approval has already been given for the lavishly furnished insides of the home to be demolished with the owner agreeing to ‘donate interior finishes rather than having them thrown away.’
The French-style architecture home was first listed for sale at $84.5 million in March 2015 while still under construction.
The seven-bedroom house sits on a 2-acre double lot with 242 feet of beachfront.
The mansion as whole has 36,000 square feet of living space, inside and out.
For about two years after it was listed, the mansion was the most expensive property for sale in Palm Beach County.
The H-shape layout of the home allowed for ocean views from many of the reception rooms and bedrooms.
Along with several bedrooms in the main section of the home, there are also a pair of two-bedroom guest apartments complete with ocean views.
There is even room for a two-lane bowling alley in the basement – although it’s soon to be destroyed by the wrecker’s ball.
The home also enjoys dual ocean balconies, a massage room, a home theater, a pub room, library, an oceanfront kitchen, staff quarters and garage space for eight cars.
The mansion often came in for criticism from neighborhood activists who were unhappy at its size declaring it to be ‘too big for its lot’ and ‘out of scale with other houses in the neighborhood.
It is unclear if Lauder plans to build an even bigger property on his double-sized plot, or something more subtle.
The home’s red barrel-tile roof was changed to a gray shingle style, to make it more in-keeping with the chateau-like architecture.
Lauder who was ranked No. 317 among the richest Americans on the just-released Forbes 400 list, already has planning permission to build on the lot next door with the plans being approved in 2021, although construction work hasn’t begun.
He purchased that lot, at 1063 N Ocean Blvd, for $25.4 million in April 2020 at which point he demolished the existing home which had stood there since the early 1960s.
Plans for any new properly to sit across both plots have not yet been submitted.
